Fraydele Oysher

Fraydele Oysher (October 3, 1913 – January 5, 2004) was an American Yiddish theater actress and musical performer. She was one of the first female singers to publicly perform cantorial music. She was the mother of American actress and comedian Marilyn Michaels and Michael Sternberg, the sister of American actor and cantor Moishe Oysher, and the wife of Harold Sternberg, a Broadway and Metropolitan Opera performer.

Life and work

Early life Oysher was born in Lipkon, Bessarabia, Imperial Russia, which is now part of Moldova.

Performance career Oysher worked as a child actress, performing in musicals written specifically for her at Yiddish theaters in New York City, among them The Little Queen, The Golden Girl, and Fraydele's Wedding.

Personal life She and Harold Sternberg married in 1935. Sternberg performed at the Metropolitan Opera as a basso profundo opera singer. Oysher had two children, daughter Marilyn Michaels and son Michael Sternberg.